THE final quarterfinal of the 2015 Rugby World Cup sees the high-flying Australian Wallabies take on Scotland at Twickenham on Monday morning.

The Wallabies are riding high after winning all four games this tournament, but their recent history with Scotland should have them a touch nervous heading into Monday’s do-or-die clash.

Australia have looked good so far in recording wins over Fiji, Uruguay, England and Wales, but beating Scotland hasn’t been all too easy of late. The Wallabies were winners by 21-15 the last time they met, but Scotland edged out a pair of victories the previous two.

In 2009, Scotland caused the upset by beating Australia 9-8 at Murrayfield, and they repeated the dose three years later in Newcastle where they came away with another closely fought 9-6 win.

Overall, Australia do have the 19-9 win advantage over the Scottish and those two recent losses didn’t come in World Cup’s, so there is still plenty to like about the Aussies in this match.

Australia vs. Scotland Rugby World Cup betting

Australia are the very warm favourites with bookmakers. It’s a little disheartening for the Scotland fans to think they are double-digit underdogs for a quarterfinal they deserve to be playing, but the Southern Hemisphere sides are playing that much better than everyone else at the moment.

Australia – $1.08 (-16.5)
Scotland – $8.50 (+16.5)

Regarding their recent history, the +16.5 for Scotland should be considered the bet to make, but Australia are looking the form team of the tournament.

After an easy 28-13 win over Fiji to kick off the World Cup, Australia then handled Uruguay by only giving up one penalty goal in 80 minutes.

The game of the tournament followed as Australia and England met which would decide what team was sent packing from the World Cup. The game ended up being a no contest as Australia romped home with a dominating 33-13 win which sent host-nation England back to the drawing board.

The Wallabies followed that win with another stellar performance, beating Wales (who also defeated England) 15-6 in a gritty defensive display.

Scotland suffered only one loss in pool play, coming to a resurgent South Africa 16-34 at Newcastle. The Scots bounced back with a hard-fought 36-33 with over Samoa, but if they are to compete with the Australians, they will have to become better defensively.

In four World Cup games to date, Scotland have given up totals of 10, 16, 34 and 33. That defensive display, especially the two most recent games, simply won’t cut it for Scotland if they want to win the game.

The news for Scotland didn’t get better during the week as both Israel Folau and Matt Giteau for Australia pulled up well after their injury scares. Folau will have a light week in training, but he is well favoured to score the first try of the game at $8 with Sportsbet.

Our verdict:

There’s no two ways about it – Australia should win this game and win it with ease. But, World Cup’s are all about throwing in the odd upset and whilst we don’t think Scotland can win, they could well cover the +16.5.

Scotland need to keep the game tight. They should try and slow the pace of the game down, kick penalties, and force Australia into making mistakes.

The Wallabies, when put under pressure, resort to kicking a lot of high ball which will play into Scotland’s hands so we like the look of Scotland +16.5 at CrownBet.com.au.

Wallabies nursing their injured stars

The Wallabies were worried about the injuries to both David Pocock and Israel Folau, but Folau has since passed a fitness test despite not feeling 100 per cent fit heading into their game against Scotland.

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika isn’t worried about Pocock who left Wales game with an injured calf.

“He seems OK in the dressing room. Israel, his ankle got a bit weary after last week – [it’s the] same injury.”

Folau was forced to stay on the field against Wales as Cheika has used all his back reserves.

“We did want to bring him off, in a perfect world we would’ve brought him off with maybe 10 or 20 minutes to go because he hadn’t trained all week,” Cheika said.

“But we couldn’t because of a few things that happened around us.

“He got through the game but the first signs are pretty much the same as last week.”

It looks as though the injured Wallaby players will come through their ailments in full health. Only Israel Folau has a cloud hanging over his head, but with the game being played on Monday morning, it has given the star winger more time to recover.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Cookie settingsACCEPT

Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.